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'''Colombia,''' officially the '''United Provinces of Colombia''' (''Provincias Unidas de Colombia'') is a country in northern South America. Colombia is boundedbordered onto the north by the Caribbean Sea, the northwest by [[Boschland]], the south by [[Peru]], the east by [[Guyana]], the southeast by [[Equador]], and the west by the Pacific Ocean. It comprises six provinces and 64 departments and the capital [[District of San José de Cúcuta]].
With over 86 million inhabitants Colombia is, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the worldglobally, with its rich cultural heritage reflecting influences by various Amerindian civilizations, European settlement, forced African labor, and immigration from Europe and the greater Middle East. Urban centers are concentrated in the Andean highlands and the Caribbean coast. Colombia is one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries and has the second-highest level of biodiversity in the world. Its territory encompasses the Amazon rainforest, highlands, grasslands, and deserts, and it is the only country in South America with coastlines and islands along both the Atlantic and Pacific.
Colombia is considered a major regional power in South America with the highest population ofon the continent, a highly developed industrial economy, and large reserves of natural resources.
== Etymology ==
The name "Colombia" is derived from the last name of the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus (Italian: ''Cristoforo Colombo'', Spanish: ''Cristóbal Colón''). It was conceived as a reference to all of the New World.
During the [[Colombia#Colombian Revolution|Colombian War of Independence]] and the Spring of Nations in South America (the Americas1830s), the term Colombia became used by republicans and revolutionaries as an endonym that refers to the former Spanish colony of New Granada. After the Treaty of Medellín (1842), Colombia become used asbecame the common name for the United Provinces of Colombia.
== History ==
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